ABSTRACT
Studies to assess the viability and economic benefits of integrating poultry (layers) farming with fish culture were conducted using shallow ponds. Chicken houses were constructed over each of these ponds using locally available materials such as bamboos and straw. The integration of aquaculture with poultry results in a more efficient use of resources than is possible with aquaculture farming alone. Integrated fish-livestock farming has long been in practiced in sub-tropical climates—particularly China and Taiwan—but not in tropical countries. This chapter evaluates the economic benefits or integrating fish with livestock farming; determines species’ ratios and combinations that would result in optimum productions; and assesses the viability of integrating egg-layer poultry with fish culture in a tropical country. Integrated poultry-fish farming is practiced in many countries of the world, and especially in Asia. Hopkins and Cruz studied integrated animal-fish farming systems in the Philippines and concluded that livestock manure was a very important source of nutrients for fish cultivated in ponds.
